Israeli Filmmakers' Gaza War Documentary 'NAZA' Premieres at Venice

A documentary featuring testimony from 24 Israeli military insiders, including intelligence officers and soldiers, had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday. Titled "NAZA," the film examines the war in Gaza and what its subjects describe as the systemic killing of Palestinian civilians.

It was directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, the Israeli filmmakers behind the Oscar-winning documentary "No Other Land." Shot in secret on rooftops in Tel Aviv over three years, "NAZA" conceals the identities of its subjects through digital alterations to their voices and appearances.

The title refers to an Israeli military acronym used as shorthand for civilian casualties, including men, women and children. In the film, the subjects describe surveillance systems and remote bombing used in the military's operation, which they say employs artificial intelligence to identify potential Hamas targets and strike their homes and apartments, often with knowledge that families are inside.

"We just told these officers and soldiers, please describe to us what you did," Abraham said at a news conference on Thursday. He said the guiding question was one of detail, and that sometimes simply posing the question yields answers.

The documentary builds on reporting published between 2023 and 2025 by the Israeli-Palestinian +972 Magazine, the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call and The Guardian. Szor said there was still value in translating that material into film, noting the difference between reading about the systems and hearing the people who designed and operated them describe and sketch them on camera.

"NAZA" was produced by The Guardian and the filmmakers behind "The Zone of Interest." It is the only documentary competing for the Golden Lion and one of two with a female director. Producer James Wilson said the film was a late addition to the festival at the team's request, partly to allow time to complete the anonymization of its subjects.

The film does not dwell on what motivated its subjects to speak. Abraham said some expressed remorse while others did not, and that some spoke in Hebrew deliberately, out of indifference or pride. The filmmakers and producers drew inspiration from a note by "The Zone of Interest" director Jonathan Glazer that in his film the victims remain out of frame but never out of mind.

Abraham said focusing too heavily on feelings of remorse or guilt would detract from the film's core, which he described as a system of killing that has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza, with estimates suggesting the true figure is higher, and the way the world allowed it to happen.

Wilson also addressed accusations of antisemitism sometimes directed at projects critical of the Israeli government, saying he does not see any connection between Judaism or Jewishness and the policies of the Israeli government.

Abraham and Szor were two of the four directors of "No Other Land," the 2025 best documentary winner about Palestinian activists fighting to protect their communities from demolition by the Israeli military. That collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers was made between 2019 and 2023, wrapping production days before the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage, and which started the war in Gaza.

According to Gaza's Health Ministry, more than 73,422 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's ensuing offensive. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children make up around half of all fatalities.

Abraham said the killing of civilians in Gaza is ongoing, citing the death this week of a seven-year-old girl and her father in their car while the filmmakers were at the festival. He said the film shows that this is not a mistake or an accident but something systemic, and that it should have been apparent from the start, adding that the film presents it from the inside through insider testimony.

Areas Israel controls in Gaza have been mostly destroyed and depopulated, while most of the territory's 2 million Palestinians are in areas that remain under Hamas control. Israel has continued striking Gaza, saying it targets Hamas and its infrastructure, and blames Hamas for heavy civilian casualties, saying the militant group operates in residential areas and uses civilians as human shields. The military has acknowledged using artificial intelligence to help identify targets but maintains no strike is carried out without human involvement. "When it comes to 'pressing the red button,' only a person can do it," an Israeli military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal statement from the army.

The war was also prominent at last year's festival, where thousands gathered for a large pro-Palestinian protest, and Kaouther Ben Hania's "The Voice of Hind Rajab," about the death of a 6-year-old girl attempting to flee Gaza City with her family, won the Silver Lion. Ben Hania is part of the Maggie Gyllenhaal-led jury selecting this year's winners, which will be announced on Sept. 12.